Anxiety, depression and quality of life in mothers of disabled children

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among anxiety and depression with quality of life in mothers with disabled children. Methods: The study was performed three rehabilitation centers in Ankara. One hundred and seven disabled children’s mothers included of the study. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Nottingham Health Profile’s Part -1 (NHP) were used to assess depression, anxiety and quality of life of mothers. The assessments were performed during children’s treatment in rehabilitation centers. Results: The mean score on the BDI was 14.22, SD:13.03, SAI was 41.95, SD: 6.55 and TAI was 47.27, SD:7.94. There was a significant correlation between BDI and TAI (r: 0.348, p0.01) and all subscales of NHP (emotional reaction-ER r: 0.622, energy level-EL r: 0.416, pain r: 0.463, sleep r: 0.429, physical mobility-PM r: 0.422, social isolation-SI r: 0.587, p0.01). There was a significant correlation between TAI and ER (r: 0.271, p0.01) EL (r: 0.206, p0.05) sleep (r: 0.252, p0.01) of NHP. There was a significant correlation between mother’s education level and TAI (r:-0.209, p0.05). There was a significant correlation between mother’s education level and NHP pain scale (r:-0.240, p0.05). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicated that mothers with disabled children have anxiety and depression. Increased depression and anxiety level affected with badly in mother’s quality of life. The effective rehabilitation programs should provide sufficient opportunities for repeated follow-up interviews which offer not only information on the children’s disabilities but also psychological support for the mothers.

Keywords: Depression, anxiety, mothers have disabled children, quality of life.